Cruise Junky

1 hour ago, ccqueenanne said:

 

I think it was the 4th of July sale where I grabbed the 50% discount on Classic to Premium upgrade for my cruise earlier this month. My May 2024 cruise wasn't eligible for that sale, but I'm hoping to see that offer come up again.

Yes, that’s the sale where you could upgrade for $9.99 pd pp. good deal. 

Don’t tease us with a good time. 😂😂

Thanks for the heads up. I debated cancelling excursions I’d booked under the Memorial Day sale because the Canadian dollar has dropped since then but I saved $55 Canadian. May now book a dinner package.  

15 minutes ago, ATWCruiser said:

Is it me or am I noticing ATW 2025 is not selling as well as expected?  There is still availability across most categories.  For me, the intinerary is not as good as ATW 2023 or ATW 2024.  I wonder if Oceania will discount these ATW cruises or will they start discountng the segments? Not sure how that works as I haven't paid attention to the flow of prices.  Wonder if that is one of the reasons why Oceania decided to move to Vista for ATW 2026 (rumour) to get people excited (I am) and maximize profit (they got me).

I remember on release saying it was an unusual itinerary for someone’s first world cruise but would be good for repeat ATW cruises with not visiting Europe.   I guess more people want Europe which I would expect to be back on the 2026.  

45 minutes ago, Robert de Beaumont said:

Did they push through a recent price increase on the so-called “premium” options? 

Yes, they did. Surf and turf was $39.99 last week 

So, a year ago today we got a glimpse of the 2025 world cruise…taps fingers impatiently. 😂😂 

If I get one more email about sailing the Caribbean, Bahamas or CocoCay I’ll scream. They put all their darn ships there and now you can’t sell them without a daily sale email. 🤦🏻‍♀️   

As of right now, we’re clear but who knows what next week will bring.   

On 8/17/2023 at 4:17 PM, ToxM said:

Riviera is going to Asia I believe - if I remember correctly from the future cruise presentation I went to in December. 

 

I am curious to see if the rumours about a different ship doing the ATW in 2026 are correct. if we have an O class going to the South Pacific I would be very interested, I can’t afford to shell out on a PH and decent airfare for that region, but would happily slum it in a verandah on an O or A class. Anything below PH is a hard no for us on an R class - I would consider a solo fare on an R but I don’t think Marital Unit would be very happy 😉

Found an Australian article that speaks to Riviera being based in Australia which fits with the Sydney port schedule but she could be doing both australia and Asia. 
 

Vista is on the Darwin port schedule in April which fits with a world cruise timeline. There is also an Oceania “unknown” ship in Sydney about 9 days before which is also likely to be vista.   

3 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

For us, the value was in the included airfare.  On the Med cruise I just booked, the cruise only fare for a suite was $8900pp for 11 nights.  The business class airfare add on was an additional $2800pp.  When I did a mock booking for business class on Delta for similar dates the price from Atlanta to Venice was $4400 pp and the return flight from Rome to Atlanta, also in business class was $6700pp.  There's no way we could every get business class airfare for $2800 on our own.  

You know to look at a multi city booking right? And not two one ways?   

I loved it. We stayed I. Brisbane and took the bus. Don’t miss the babies 

Too early for April. You may get Maui but Kahului 

1 hour ago, ptcflyer said:

Question:   I booked Seattle to Vancouver followed by Vancouver to Honolulu followed by Honolulu to Sydney on Celebrity Solstice.    Celebrity is saying this violates the Jones Act.   It does violate if you only take into consideration the first back-to-back.... Seattle to Honolulu without a "distant" foreign port.....  but should they consider the fact that my beginning is Seattle and my end point is in Sydney with a Back to Back to Back Itinerary? 

You are correct. Booking the first two legs would be a violation. Adding the third puts you in the clear. Speak to their manager and ask what part of the PVSA is being violated by sailing Seattle to Sydney!   Someone likely didn’t see your Honolulu to Sydney booking.  

55 minutes ago, Pinboy said:

For what it's worth because I notice CCers getting " over-heated " :

1---To those who are complaining about the current state of food:

Two couples we know were recently on Celebrity-- One on the Beyond, the other on the Reflection-BOTH said the food and service was excellent throughout the cruise.

 

 

 

When did they sail? It seems like this menu is only a couple of weeks old so if they sailed more than a month ago, their opinion could be irrelevant 

2 minutes ago, Lastdance said:

Vista is out now; there is another  one coming out soon, but I do not recall it’s name…sorry!

Allura I think.  

10 minutes ago, Lastdance said:

I loved Tahiti, so out of LA sounds great; can you elaborate?   Just saw your answer to this! 

HAL does a 35 day version too which IMO is a better itinerary.  

My husband detests mashed potatoes.  Going to be a fun 17 nights 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

We’ll see.  Next cruise is solstice, my favourite ship. But with the concentration on shorter cruises, caribbean neither are appealing. We booked 2025 on Azamara. We cruise for the itinerary and Celebrity are starting to suck at that.  

1 minute ago, Vineyard View said:

Not necessarily so. Once you put a deposit on a trip, if you do not book insurance in X amount of days (usually 14-21) then you cannot have pre-existing conditions waived. We always make sure we book a policy that allows you to only pay up front for the money you have on deposit, then when you pay more, you are able to Increase the money you pay on your insurance. It’s the devil in the details in making sure you have chosen a policy/company that allows this. At the end of the day, the total cost of the policy is not more than if we were to pay in full for it up front. 

But insurance doesn’t cover everything unless you pay quite a bit extra for cancel for any reason.  For instance the Hawaii cruises.  One cruise line substituted Seattle and Victoria for 2 days in Maui. Not exactly the Hawaii cruise the poster had in mind when they booked.  According to Oceania’s new policy, $500 pp Insurance won’t do anything. Ship is still sailing. You know what doesn’t come with a $500 cancellation fee at 180 days?  Land trips 😂😂

4 minutes ago, ChinaShrek said:

Which port is better to board in?

No idea. Haven’t boarded in either. 

1 hour ago, Nodakboiler said:

We booked 2 onboard this morning and one had only guarantee cabins in every category- the FC advisor was dumbfounded since the release was only last night. He’s going to get back to us tomorrow.

I saw that. Super weird. On the September NS cruise down to the Med, if you board in Dover it was only guarantee, but Rotterdam, wide open 

25 minutes ago, CNSJ said:

Yes Europe 2025 is open for all to see and book.  Prices seem about 10% higher than previous release, but then again we are talking about cruises two years from now and the police gets locked in.

 

Itineraries are diverse, and I spotted a 20 SEP 2025 Rome to Athens 14 night sailing with overnight in both Alexandria, Egypt and Istanbul, Turkey.  That would support an very solid shore excursion in Egypt.

Have not seen an overnight in Egypt for some time.

 

Will book while onboard next moth.

 

There’s an overnight on the same sailing in 2024 

Just a heads up. Some of the itineraries are now completely changed from yesterday.  The cruise we were going to book is now completely different.  

1 hour ago, hokiefans said:

I need a bigger hint.  Any voyages going to Aqaba for Petra??

I didn’t see any. There’s one on NS that is very close to the 2024 sailing that has the overnight in Cairo but nothing going down as far as Petra.   Azamara has a nice one that we’re booked on in October 2025 

Hmmmmm. Have not heard of that before. Can we trade it for a Gin House? 🤷🏻‍♀️  Great to see some new options.